Ardoino on Tether's Perspective: Proposed Stablecoin Legislation Threatens Existence

A forthcoming markup of a stablecoin bill might reportedly restrict foreign access to U.S. Treasury markets, sparking concerns about private interests and impartial legislation.

Paolo Ardoino, the CEO of Tether, publicly expressed his thoughts on what he described as an apparent strategy to "Kill Tether" amid ongoing stablecoin legislation developments on Capitol Hill.

On February 25, Vance Spencer, a co-founder of Framework Ventures, issued a warning about a "soon-to-be-revealed stablecoin markup." Spencer claimed that the suggested modifications would prevent centralized international stablecoin issuers from accessing U.S. Treasury markets, as stated in a post on X.com.

"This is an obvious attempt at regulatory capture by U.S. players at the expense of U.S. national interest," Spencer criticized.

The stablecoin market is dominated by U.S. dollar-pegged tokens, with giants like Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC) relying on Treasury Bills for the majority of their reserves. Circle has started the process of moving to New York, while Tether intends to establish a presence in El Salvador.

In theory, the changes to the stablecoin bill alluded to by Spencer could prevent Tether and other foreign issuers from accessing a crucial reserve asset.

U.S. policymakers have introduced two separate stablecoin proposals: the GENIUS Act in the Senator by Senators Tim Scott, Bill Hagerty, Cynthia Lummis, and Kirsten Gillibrand and its House counterpart called the STABLE Act presented by Representatives French Hill and Bryan Steil.

Spencer did not specify which bill suggested limiting access to Treasury markets.

The largest stablecoins are currently built overseas, and the majority of demand comes from overseas - this will not change, regardless of the situation. The net result of continued hostile regulatory attitudes towards stablecoins will only be to regulate ourselves out of the picture, similar to Europe with AI.

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Vance Spencer, Framework Ventures co-founder

In response to Spencer's tweet, Ardoino alleged that competitors were using political connections to isolate Tether from the U.S. stablecoin landscape. Ardoino did not directly name any company, but speculation suggested the post referred to top stablecoin issuers.

Matt Cole, CEO of Strive Funds, and several social media commenters, suggested that Circle, Tether's biggest rival and the second-largest stablecoin issuer, was behind the so-called "regulatory capture" attempt.

While our competitors' business model should be to create a superior product and even larger distribution network, their true intent is "Kill Tether." Every single business or political meeting they have ends with this goal.

Paolo Ardoino, Tether CEO

USDt is the most successful tool for US Dollar hegemony and distribution across emerging markets.

Over the last decade, Tether has built the widest physical and digital distribution network, ranging from thousands of kiosks in Africa and South America to digital remittances… https://t.co/KD2oUzemT8

crypto.news has reached out to Tether and Circle for comment.

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